Entries tagged with: Meek is Murder

Cave In/Converge-related power trio Mutoid Man are releasing their new album on Sargent House this year, but details on that are still TBA. Meanwhile, they've announced a show happening in NYC on March 11 at Saint Vitus with Primitive Weapons and Meek Is Murder. Tickets are on sale now.

Their only other announced date is a Red Bull Sound Select show in Seattle with Wild Throne and secret guests.

No music from the new album is out yet, but you can watch a live video below...

As always, there are tons of good metal and metal-related tours swinging through NYC and other one-off heavy shows happening here. We don't get around to posting all of them, so here's a roundup of some of the local heavy shows coming up that we're excited about:

Hellbent Hooker, who feature members of Ramming Speed and Mutilation Rites, play the Acheron TONIGHT (1/8) with support from Meth Valley and Mammal. When we first wrote about them, we said, "If you've never experienced the over-the-top spectacle that is Hellbent Hooker, you're in luck. Prepare for a gross-out session... in the best ways possible." Tickets for tonight are on sale.

On Sunday (1/11) at Saint Vitus, mathcore shredders Meek Is Murder team up with Vomit Fist, Aminals and Budd Dwyer. Tickets are on sale.

Couch Slut, who released their excellent debut album, My Life As A Woman, last year, return to Saint Vitus on January 23 with Tile, Microwaves and Chain Gang Grave. Tickets are on sale.

Brooklyn trio Mortals, who put out a great album on Relapse last year, were already announced to open the first night of Eyehategod's 2-night stand at Saint Vitus (tickets), and they've since added their own show happening soon after on February 15 at Acheron. The Black Antler and Nerve Shatter open. Tickets for that one are on sale now.

As a reminder, some previously discussed metal tours are about to hit NYC too. There's the unmissable High on Fire / Windhand double bill hitting Vitus on Friday (1/9) for two shows, but unfortunately both are sold out.

Just a few days after that, you'll probably want to head to Webster Hall (2/28) where two death metal legends, Behemoth and Cannibal Corpse, bring their co-headlining tour. Aeon and Tribulation open. Tickets are still available.

March is stacked so far as well. Legendary Swedes Nifelheim are making a rare and very anticipated NYC appearance on March 15 at Saint Vitus with Ares Kingdom (ex-Order from Chaos), Slutvomit and Iron Force. Get tickets.

The following weekend gets pretty nuts. West Coast black metal greats Dispirit finally make their East Coast debut at Saint Vitus on March 20 and 22 with different sets and different openers each night (tickets). And right smack in the middle of those two shows, the killer Enslaved / Yob / Ecstatic Vision tour hits Gramercy Theater (3/21). You can still get tickets for that one too.

Looking forward a bit to the spring, Electric Wizard's first North American tour in over 10 years hits Webster Hall on April 2. That's unfortunately sold out, but you can try your luck on StubHub or something. This one's not to miss.

The Nine Inch Nails / Soundgarden tour hits the NYC-area this week, including the NJ show on Saturday (8/2) that The Dillinger Escape Plan open. Right before DEP hook up with that tour though, they'll headline a much smaller show in NYC on Thursday (7/31) at Saint Vitus with local-ish openers Torrential Downpour and Meek Is Murder, both of whom have a tech-y sound that will pair well with DEP, and Mothership. $5 tickets go on sale Tuesday (7/29) at noon. Flyer below.

The show is presented by Party Smasher Inc, the "collective of creative professionals and artistic provocateurs" that was founded by DEP guitarist Ben Weinman, and just recently launched their website, which is a "one-stop portal for musicians, photographers, illustrators, fashion designers and industry mavericks of all stripes."

Updated DEP dates are listed, with that flyer and the Party Smasher Inc logo, below...

Fucking Invincible is the new project from fellas from Dropdead and Daughters. Surprise: they're loud. They play a type of ultra-aggressive core that loves tossing '90s-styled jud-jud breakdowns into the maelstrom. Their new album on Atomic Action! Records is called It'll Get Worse Before It Gets Better, which you can stream in full below. It rages in tight, minute-long packages. The songs never outstay their welcome, using a one-and-done approach for segment construction. That means It'll Get Worse Before It Gets Better is the kind of record you leave on repeat. It also means the title is kind of a lie. It's pretty good from the get-go.

Fucking Invincible will hit the road September for a string of dates that run through the eastern half of North America. That tour hits NYC on September 27 at the Acheron. Tickets and support slots will be announced soon. All dates are listed below.

They also just played Connecticut last night (7/20) with Oathbreaker and Cult Leader, the touring package that will hit the Acheron on Thursday (7/24) for a BrooklynVegan-presented show that includes Young and In the Way, Badr Vogu and Meek Is Murder. Tickets for that show are still available and we're also giving away a pair. Details on how to enter to win, with the Fucking Invincible LP stream and list of dates, below.

Charlotte black n' crust collective Young and in the Way went full The Shining on Sunday, "spraying" pig's blood during the Empire Tattoo showcase at Lexington Avenue Brewery in Asheville, North Carolina. This caused the venue to shut down and call the Buncombe County Health Department to assess the damage. Lexington Avenue Brewery general manager Benjy Greene said (via WLOS):

After a private music event in our back room, we voluntarily closed and contacted the Buncombe County Health department to advise us the best cleanup procedure for our back room.

Young and in the Way have yet to issue a statement, though Empire Tattoo have apologized for the event:

Though the actions and result of Sunday nights show were out of our hands we are sorry another local business is suffering. We have been in contact with Buncombe County health inspector over the matter and are aware that the "contamination" was confined to the back room of the LAB. We were also made aware by the health inspector that LAB was given "go ahead" to re open as soon as they wished without re inspection. Our mission for this party was to celebrate our business and customers with another local business. We hope for everyones sake we can all move forward from this in a positive manner. We appreciate everyones support on this matter.

Lexington Avenue Brewery hopes it can have the stage cleaned by Saturday for the David Bowie cover band Wham Bam Bowie Band. Godspeed, cleaning crew. Remember, we can be heroes.

The inevitable yearly parade of holiday-themed silliness marches on today with some help from Converge-esque BK riffers Meek is Murder. Though the band just released a short LP in October, they hit the studio on Monday (12/16) to record an even shorter 3-song "holiday EP" and managed to turn it around in time for free download availability today. The band recorded it at the Converse Rubber Tracks studio with noted Flight of the Conchords producer Matt Shane. Weird.

Aside from its song titles and some schlocky jingle bells at the beginning of its first cut, Infant Worship is mercifully light on the overtly Xmas-related content -- it's just a trio of brief scorchers. Strangely, this stuff is just as strong as the band's other material to date, no matter how tossed-off the songs and tracking session may have been.

You can stream Infant Worship below; it's available for free (or pay-what-you-want) download on their Bandcamp. Their 2013 LP, Everything is Awesome Nothing Matters, is streaming below as well.

Brooklyn's Meek Is Murder are releasing their sophomore album, Everything Is Awesome Nothing Matters, on October 22, and after revealing one of its tracks, the band are new debuting a second, "Ghost Moth," which makes its premiere in this post. Like most tracks on the album, it's a spastic, ever-evolving tune, and it includes some air-guitar-worthy shredding, not unlike what their producer Kurt Ballou did on "Sadness Comes Home" last year. The song only stays whiplash-inducing speed for so long though, before they pull a 180 and end in a head-nodding sludgefeast. Check it out below.

Meek Is Murder also have some previously discussed hometown shows coming up, including the Metal Injection/Metal Sucks CMJ showcase on October 18 at Acheron with Fuck the Facts, Fit For an Autopsy, Hivesmasher and the live debut of Stomach Earth, the new project of Mike McKenzie of The Red Chord (who once counted Meek guitarist Mike Keller as a member too). Tickets for that show are still available. After that, they join their friends So Hideous (who also have a new album on the way) for a day show (3 PM) on October 26 at ABC No Rio with NJ post-metal quintet East of the Wall and Mary Todd.

So Hideous also open the BV/IO-presentedKylesa, Pinkish Black, and Sierra show at Saint Vitus on October 25. Tickets for that show are still available.

NYC's own post-hardcore/black metal sluggers So Hideous (formerly So Hideous, My Love) have been hard at work on their new full-length effort, Last Poem/First Light. The band will self-release the album on October 22; we debuted a new song from the album over at Invisible Oranges this morning. You can stream it below. From our writeup:

So Hideous's new album features textural support from a fifteen-piece strings-and-throats ensemble called The First Light Orchestra, and the band claims the 20th-century classical composers Phillip Glass and Arvo Part as influences.

It's a stretch, and one that So Hideous doesn't need to make. Their music -- an even blend of hardcore, post-rock, and black metal -- stands strong without the grandiose comparisons. Last Poem/First Light sounds tonally huge and powerful, which is important for such melodically delicate music. I typically find the combination of metal and classical ensemble arrangements hokey as all get-out, but it works remarkably well here. The softer textures enrich the guitars, rather than overwhelming them. The presence of both blastbeats and Envy-esque melodic striving ensure that So Hideous will be compared to a certain ubiquitous Californian two-piece. For my money, this is the more enjoyable album of the two.

Brooklyn mathcore trio Meek Is Murder have announced that they'll be returning with a new album, Everything Is Awesome Nothing Matters, on October 22 on vinyl via Threshold of Pain (the band is self-releasing it digitally). It's the followup to their 2011 debut, Algorithms, and like that album, they brought in producer Kurt Ballou of Converge, whose technical, breakneck-speed metallic hardcore is likely a precedent for Meek's sound (as is Botch, who they're known to cover). Check out an album teaser video of Meek is Murder and Kurt Ballou in Kurt's Godcity Studio, along with the tracklist, below.

Meek Is Murder also have some local shows coming up. One of those happens this Saturday (9/14) at The Grand Victory with Tiger Flowers (who they have a split music video with, watch below), Johnny Booth, Hive Smasher, and NYC's atmospheric metallers So Hideous (who also have a new LP on the way, trailer below). Tickets for that show are on sale now. Show flyer below.

Then in October, they play the Metal Injection/Metal SucksCMJ showcase on October 18 at Acheron. The show's being headlined by grindcore boundary-pushers Fuck the Facts (who have a new EP out), and also includes Fit For An Autopsy, Hivesmasher, and the live debut of Stomach Earth, the new project of The Red Chord's Mike McKenzie. Tickets for that one are on sale now, and the show flyer is below too. And finally, after CMJ they team up with So Hideous again for a show on October 26 at ABC No Rio.

After playing a show in NYC earlier this year. screamo favorites Loma Prieta will return to our coast for another NYC date, this time as part of a round of shows with Fucking Invincible. Kicking off in Cambridge, MA, the tour includes two dates in NYC on July 13: an all-ages day show at ABC No Rio with IDES and Nothing Matters and a 21+ night show at Coco66 with Psychic Limb and Meek is Murder.

In related news, Psychic Limb are readying their new LP Jamaica for release. The album, recorded with Colin Marston, is due for release this month and features another short blast of 12+ songs of hardcore/grind.

Full Loma Prieta tour dates are listed, along with their video for "Fly By Night," below.

Make Music New York's Punk Island is back for a sixth year! From 11am until 10pm on June 22nd, hear more than 90 bands from every corner of the punk scene performing for 11 hours on seven stages, all curated by ABC No Rio's punk/hardcore collective.

Due to summer construction on Governors Island, Punk Island will move across the harbor to Staten Island's enormous "Coast Guard" pier, 100 yards south of the Ferry Terminal in St. George, Staten Island.

Converge will team with Meek Is Murder, Trenchfoot and Dead Serious at Saint Vitus on May 25 and tickets are on sale. The show is part of a weekend that will see the Massachusetts hardcore quartet also head toward an appearance at Maryland Deathfest, joining names like Bolt Thrower, Infest, and more. All dates are listed below.

Speaking of Maryland Deathfest, the festival recently announced the cancellation of Gehenna "due to pressing legal matters" and the addition of Ringworm. Tickets are still available for Maryland Deathfest.

I can't tell you how many great bands I have seen over the years at Precious Metal at NYC club Lit Lounge on Mondays. The series, curated by Wetnurse/Today is the Day member Curran Reynolds, is responsible not only for the first appearances from some favorite bands but also many many personal friendships forged in that dingy basement. Now after more than six years as a series, Precious Metal is coming to an end:

Friends, I am proud to announce the Grand Finale of Precious Metal. After 6.66 years and over 300 events, the series I started in May of 2006 will come to an end on January 21, 2013.

We had a good run! Monday after Monday, we brought all sorts of heaviness from across the city and around the globe (Iceland, Italy, Australia...) into the den of Downtown grime and glamour that is Lit. These forces combined and added up to something special. I like to think we played a part in the resurgence of a New York City metal scene, one which now looks stronger than ever.

Upcoming events at Precious Metal include this Monday (12/17) with Tiger Flowers, Meek is Murder, I am Heresy and Black Table; January 7 with Ghostlimb & The Year is One and yours truly on DJ duties; January 14 with Jar'd Loose, Gentlemen, End it and DJ Mike SOS; and the finale on January 21, a benefit for South Sound featuring Hivesmasher, Fashion Week, Flaming Tusk, SOS and DJ Zeena Koda. Make sure and get to the shows and wave goodbye to metal in the Lit Lounge basement. It will be missed.

Canadians Vilipend aren't making any new friends with their vitriolic new LP Inamorata and that's the way they like it. Apparently the band isn't so chummy with landlords either, after bassist Michael J. Crossley was denied an apartment due to his "nefarious" associations. Quoth Crossley's potential landlord:

"I will be straight up with you both. We were quite ready to make a decision in your favour the other night.

However, upon investigation of the band Vilipend, it has brought forward some concerns for us. We are uncomfortable with the energy that this music manifests.

We really enjoyed meeting with you both and you have shown both professionalism and patience in this process. We thank you for that. However, we feel it is not the best fit for our house and our other tenants."

Inamorata isn't exactly unicorns and rainbows. The new LP, due via A389 Records on 8/16, carries on in the tradition of noisey hardcore like Converge and Botch with elements of sludgy misanthropy throughout. Check out "Last Stand of the Hopeless Romantic" which rears its ugly head for the first time below, alongside another three tracks from the record.

Vilipend are on the East Coast with NYC's Meek is Murder this August, and will swing through Lit Lounge on 8/20 to play a show with Tiger Flowers. All streams and tour dates are below.

Converge frontman Jacob Bannon has announced plans to release a split under the moniker Wear Your Wounds with Revelator (Ben Chisholm of Chelsea Wolfe's backing band) on the other side.

We've already mentioned how Converge has been added to a monumental show with Rorschach and Xaddax (who are throwing a record release show on Tuesday at DBA).

It might be cause of today's status as an unofficial holiday of sorts, but there are a hefty amount of shows going on in the next few days... one bigger show that has seemingly flown under the radar is sweep-picking death-metal lunatics Origin with Cattle Decapitation, Decrepit Birth, Aborted, Rings of Saturn, Battlecross, Face of Ruin at Europa on April 24th. Tickets are still available, OR you can try and win a pair. Details are below. The show is part of a larger tour for the band and dates are also below.

On their way to Chaos in Tejas, The Mob (UK) will stop into Brooklyn to play Death By Audio on May 29th. The UK anarcho-punk band will be joined by Sickoids, Nomad, and Anasazi at the venue, and it'll set you back $10 at the door.

Speaking of release parties, Levil Uniform, the skater/extreme music zine, will be throwing a shownext friday at the Grand Victory for their fifteenth issue with local crew Syphilitic Lust and others playing through out the night. That same night, the great Hank Wood & The Hammerheads will bless Don Pedro's.. details are below.

Obnoxiously fun punk band Beer & Cable will officially christen the recently relaunched Acheron on May 5th as part of a show with The Regressives, Agitator, ZTs and Trepanning.

Like pretty much any genre of music that dares to call itself a "scene", NY hardcore is littered with bands that ape a very shallow pool of few. Tiger Flowers is a NYC hardcore band, but they don't subscribe to many of the trappings that befall so many of the Madball/Terror worshippers of today. Instead, the band takes influence from elders who pushed the genre into new directions, like Deadguy, Converge, and Rorschach, and add in metal influences rooted in hardcore like Unsane and Today Is The Day. What emerges is a cocktail of furious hardcore interjected with chaotic blasts of screaming feedback, time changes, doomy-riffs and most importantly, delivered with tons of live energy.

Its a bit hard to believe that a live band as potent as Tiger Flowers have yet to release their debut EP, but The Path Less Traveled Records will right that wrong when they release it on September 20th. Fans of Tiger Flowers are most likely familiar with some of these live staples like "Drag" or "Last Horse". Listen to studio versions of both below, the latter of which makes its debut in this post. If Tiger Flowers can do this much harm on their first EP, its hard to imagine what they'll do with a long-player.

Tiger Flowers have a couple dates lined up in the coming weeks, including a FREE Record Release party on 9/19 at Saint Vitus with Meek Is Murder and State Graves. Tiger Flowers will also play Precious Metal on 10/10 with Toronto's Vilipend. Meek is Murder also plays Acheron on 9/18, the night before Saint Vitus, with Southern Lord signees Dead In The Dirt, In The Shit & Scowl.

Some bands might be intimidated to share a bill with live greats like Gaza and Tiger Flowers, but Meek is Murder is not just any band. This grindy-mathy trio exemplify the word "spaz", whether that's in their complex and off-kilter hardcore-influenced math-terpieces, or at their electric live shows that see the band members performing in the audience, on the floor, and playing right in front of you.

Meek is Murder have attempted to bottle said live chaos with Algorithms (apropos), their new LP due via the MetalSucks label on March 22nd. Over 10 tracks of grindy madness inspired by "computer science", the band proves that their muscle isn't limited to the close quarters (thats what she said) of a live show and that MiM have some songs to back it up. Of course it never hurts when Kurt Ballou (Converge) is behind the boards, so you know brutality will be fully on display on tracks like "(null)" which you can download above and stream below. Pre-order Algorithms and grab a Meek Is Murder demo on the Metalsucks compilationNYC SUCKS Vol 1.

Meek is Murder will celebrate the new LP with a trip to SXSW before turning back to NYC to play a release party on 3/24 at Union Pool with East of The Wall and Wizardry. All tour dates, the song stream and some videos, below...

Gaza headlined Cake Shop on November 21st with Tiger Flowers, Meek is Murder, and Elitist, the first stop after their stint with The Red Chord on the "To Catch a PredaTOUR". In their first ever NYC appearance, Gaza's atonal and punishing riffs caused a ruckus on the floor of the venue as the band pummeled the moshing masses with tracks like "Calf", "Windowless House", and a new and unreleased track written since their mammoth 2009 release He is Never Coming Back. Fantastic live band.

Support was similarly impressive. Much like Gaza, Tiger Flowers also trotted out new material in their appearance but also relied on standards like "Last Horse" and "The Weight". Meek is Murder's tech-y screamo was highly energetic and powerful in the live setting, featuring a moshing bass player and a spastic frontman. Their Mosquito Eater EP is available for purchase or for free. Of the support, Elitist was the biggest surprise. The Portland band's gale force destruction reminded me of Trap Them, Clinging To The Trees of A Forest Fire, and a host of other bands that blend the intensity of hardcore, sludge, and grind with a blackened aesthetic. Look for their new material to be released on Season of Mist.